Presently a variety of pliers and several types of hose clamp pliers are available on the market. In general, hose clamp pliers are designed for the installation and/or removal of spring wire hose clamps. The type of spring wire hose clamp for which these pliers are typically designed is a single wire ring having overlapping ends which terminate in ears that are bent radially upward. It will be understood that when the ears are squeezed together, the clamp will expand so that it may be placed around the hose and when the ears are released, the clamp will tighten around the hose thereby completing the connection. Spring wire hose clamps come in a variety of sizes to accommodate various sizes of hoses which have numerous applications, e.g., water systems, air systems, vacuum systems, hydraulic systems and pneumatic systems.
The hose clamp pliers designed for use with spring wire hose clamps typically have grooves or notches in the head or jaws for receiving the terminal ears. However, these types of pliers generally cannot be used on a double ring spring wire hose clamp having a loop end bent radially outward and another terminal end bent radially upward consisting of the two ears of the looped spring wire extending through the loop of the looped end.
Pliers are typically used to compress the ends of a looped spring wire hose clamp. However, problems are often encountered when an individual attempts to use pliers on such a clamp. Such problems include slippage of the pliers from the clamp, twisting of the ends of the clamp, the inability to place the pliers at an angle convenient to properly compress the ends together, or a combination of these problems. As will be understood, pliers work, but they are not ideally suited for the installation or removal of spring wire clamps of this design.
Other known devices attempt to alleviate the "slipping" problem by using a pair of recesses to accommodate an item to be grasped by the device. However, the recesses are all of the same size and thus, can result in a smaller end of the item slipping even though a larger end of the item may be secure.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved reversible hose clamp tool that is adapted to receive the upward extending ears of a double ring spring wire hose clamp which has a looped end bent radially outward and another terminal end consisting of the two ears of the looped spring wire extending through the loop of the looped spring end and bent radially upward. It is another object of present invention to provide a reversible hose clamp tool that can be used in a variety of positions when installing and removing spring wire hose clamps. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reversible hose clamp tool which can be used to accommodate a variety of sizes of spring wire hose clamps. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a reversible hose clamp tool that overcomes the problems of the hose clamp twisting or slipping off the pliers during installation and removal. A further object of the present invention is to provide a reversible hose clamp tool which is convenient and easy to use. A final object of the present invention is to provide a reversible hose clamp tool which is simple to manufacture and affordable for the majority of users. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the product hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated by the following claims.